MTel R4: Ivanchuk wins yet again, leads by 1½ points

The tournament, which is being held in the Central Military Club in Sofia, Bulgaria, is a double round-robin (all play all, with white and black). The rate of play is 90 minutes for 40 moves + 1 hour to the end of the game. Starting time: 15:00h local time (12:00h UTC), except the final round, which starts at 14:00h.

Round four report

We apologise for the delay in our full articles, brought about by a long holiday weekend. The occasion was Pentacost or Whitsun, a Christian feast that commemorates the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles, who thereupon proceeded to engage in a form of glossolalia.

Ivanchuk,V (2740) - Cheparinov,I (2696) [E99]
4th M-Tel Masters Sofia BUL (4), 11.05.2008
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.Nf3 0-0 6.Be2 e5 7.0-0 Nc6 8.d5 Ne7 9.Ne1 Nd7 10.Nd3 f5 11.Bd2 Nf6 12.f3 f4 13.c5 g5 14.Rc1 Ng6 15.cxd6 cxd6 16.Nb5 Rf7 17.Qc2 Ne8 18.Nf2 h5 19.a4 Bf8 20.h3 Rg7 21.Qb3 Nh4 22.Rc2 g4 23.fxg4 Nf6 24.Be1 hxg4 25.hxg4 Nh5 26.Nh1 f3 27.Bxf3 Nf4 28.Ng3 Bxg4 29.Bxg4 Rxg4 30.Nc7 Rc8 31.Ne6 Rxc2 32.Qxc2

In this King's Indian tussle Ivan Cheparinov has been feeling the pressure from the top-form Vassily Ivanchuk, but now, eight moves before the time control, he seems to have found enough counterplay to ensure the draw. With error-free play, naturally. 32...Qb6+? A better choice would have been 32...Qe8. Now the game quickly goes down the drain. 33.Kh1 Nhxg2 34.Nf5 Qa6 35.Rg1 Qd3 36.Qxd3 Nxd3 37.Bh4 Rxe4 38.Rxg2+ Kf7 39.Nxd6+ Bxd6 40.Ng5+ and after capturing on e4 White will be a full rook up. 1-0.

Video reports by Europe Echecs

The captions in the video says it all: Vassily Ivanchuk enters the sound-proof glass enclosure

The moment has come: Cheparinov has played 32...Qb6+ and Ivanchuk 33.Kh1+/=

In the video report "Chess TV News (4)" we see how the "cage" was built –
in stop motion, to the strains of Bizet's opera Carmen.

Schedule and results

Links Official web site All games so far in PGN The games are being broadcast live on the official web site and on the chess server Playchess.com. If you are not a member you can download ChessBase Light, which gives you immediate access. You can also use it to read, replay and analyse the PGN games. Download free PGN reader ChessBase Light